Then, in addition, the Milwaukee-born, Flint, Michigan-raised Sprewell, one of the NBA’s rising (albeit reluctant) stars, was labeled persona non grata. He’d admittedly committed an act of violence against his coach. It was an act that seemed to confirm every absurd fear about the rise of the overpaid, petulant, violent (and *gasp* black) athlete. It was the problem with sports, to let sportswriters and fans alike tell it. And although Sprewell acknowledged that his actions were inexcusable — “I don’t condone what I did,” he told The New York Times in 1998 — he took issue with how he was portrayed. This was epitomized by the cover of Sports Illustrated’s Dec. 15, 1997, issue.

The enigmatic Sprewell was easy to cast as the villain. The former University of Alabama and Three Rivers Community College standout was an aggressive slasher and defender. His appearance was menacing — to people who associated cornrows with criminal activity. And Spree had previously fought teammates. He absolutely considered himself a fighter, but only in self-defense.

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“I don’t get upset unless somebody’s doing something to me or to my family, disrespecting me to where I just can’t tolerate it,” Sprewell told Time in 2000. That’s how he viewed the altercation with Carlesimo.

Sports Illustrated flew into the eye of the storm and made a valiant effort to unpack the situations. And while the story itself excellently contextualized the NBA’s head-on collision with race, the image — Sprewell, in mid-scream — chosen for the Dec. 15, 1997, issue’s cover was provocative for the wrong reasons. Sports Illustrated was the de facto bible of sports at the time, in an era before breaking news spread via Woj Bombs and trending topics. A time when writers discussed stories with editors via phone calls — not yet in Google Hangouts, or Slack.

Phil Taylor doesn’t remember exactly how he heard about what transpired between Sprewell and Carlesimo, but as a senior writer for Sports Illustrated at the time, he called his editors to discuss how they planned to cover it. “This was a huge story … right in my backyard, and as lead NBA writer, I knew I was going to be writing something lengthy,” said Taylor, now a contributing writer for The Athletic. “I’ve often thought that if it happened now, we would have obviously been able to put something out on Twitter and everyone would have just written stories immediately. But I remember thinking that [as a weekly publication] we were not going to be able to get an immediate story out there.”

“One of my first thoughts was, at least put P.J. on there looking angry too.”

The Sprewell-Carlesimo incident took place on a Monday — the worst-case scenario for the magazine, which was finalized for the mass printing on Sundays. Back then, hundreds of thousands of issues would be sent to subscribers and would be available on newsstands on the Wednesday/Thursday of the following week. Local outlets such as the San Francisco Chronicle were already on top of the story. That extra time, though, did allow Sports Illustrated to fine-tune its coverage, and Taylor ended up writing two of the three stories: a look at who Sprewell was and an essay about race and the NBA.

“We knew that by the time the story came out, the story might have advanced beyond what we knew at the time we were writing,” Taylor said. “So we wanted to come up with something to better put this into context, and that’s where we started talking about the issue of race in the NBA and what the Sprewell incident had to do with that.”

In a break from covers that featured full-bleed photography, a particularly incisive excerpt from Taylor’s essay was featured — white type on a black background:

“Latrell Sprewell has been publicly castigated and vilified, and any player who gets a similar urge to manually alter his coach’s windpipe will surely remember Sprewell’s experience before he acts on that impulse. Problem solved. But the Sprewell incident raises other issues that could pose threats to the NBA’s future, issues of power and money and — most dangerous of all — race … ”

Placing that much text on the cover of a magazine was rare for SI. “The editors liked what I wrote, and I think it was our managing editor Bill Colson … thought it was so strong that we should put those words on the cover.”

Part of Taylor’s satisfaction came from his belief that the cover would differ from what had quickly become a typical characterization of Sprewell as angry. Until he saw it, that is.

“My words … but they added that picture of Sprewell, and that was disappointing to me,” said Taylor, who didn’t see the cover until the issue came out. “One of my first thoughts was, at least put P.J. on there looking angry too. But maybe that would have been inflammatory as well, because then you would have had a black man screaming at a white man. That sort of anger could be interpreted as racial, but … would have at least been more fair.”

“P.J. was a guy who stirred it up, and was as bellicose and belligerent as Sprewell was,” Taylor said. But Carlesimo had a vastly different relationship with the media, Taylor added. He was very cooperative and affable and would ask about the reporters’ well-being. He’d remember their first names. That charm likely played a factor in Carlesimo receiving more favorable coverage than Sprewell, who was tight-lipped with the press.

“The media in general has always, and definitely at that time, underestimated the power of the images of black athletes,” said Taylor. “I don’t think the implications of putting an angry Sprewell out there occurred to them. I’m not even sure the implications of putting Barkley in chains occurred to them — until the backlash came.”

Taylor noted that no black editors were involved with the Sprewell story. “I might have been the only black writer or editor at that time,” he added. The magazine could have placed an expressionless Sprewell on the cover, and it would’ve been just as captivating. That’s how great the treatment is, and how powerful Taylor’s words are. But the cover — and all of the more incendiary examples that preceded it, and will surely continue to follow — represent a more hazardous issue: a failure on the part of many media professionals to grasp the complexity of stereotypes and the way they’re bound to black identity, and how all of that affects the way black people are viewed and treated.

Still, though, Taylor gives Sports Illustrated’s editors credit for deciding to explore the NBA’s racial undercurrent. After discussing the atmosphere with them, he said, Colson asked if the magazine should write about it. Taylor was stunned, as that was “edgy” for Sports Illustrated — and really for any mainstream sports publication of that era.

“They were willing to take on a controversial issue, although they kind of regressed on it … by choosing the picture they chose,” he said. “I wish they hadn’t done that.”

Sprewell survived his figurative public stoning and continued his career with the Knicks and then Minnesota Timberwolves. The clothing and footwear company AND1 even branded him “The American Dream” upon his return to the NBA in 1999 — the last time the Knicks made the Finals. The events of December 1997 never impeded Sprewell’s career, but it ended abruptly in 2005 after he claimed he couldn’t feed his family on the three-year, $21 million deal the Timberwolves offered him. That Priceline commercial, where he pokes fun at his mistakes, is poignant considering the headlines that have emerged since his retirement.

Despite Sprewell’s success after the incident, he remains symbolic of poor decisions and explosive anger. Regardless of Sports Illustrated’s intentions, that’s all their cover screams about him too.

What up, gang? I’m in Los Angeles right now, and Thursday night I went to see the premiere of a show called Comrade Detective from Channing Tatum and it’s funny. Anyway, I’ll be on SportsNation Friday. Tune in, kiddos.

Friday is Barack Obama’s birthday. He’s moving closer to 60, and he’s living his best life. I wonder what he does on his born day. Can you imagine what his notifications and texts are like? You were America’s favorite and one of the most hated president for eight years, now you’re out of office AND you have a summer birthday? His phone is going to be buzzing heavy for a legit 24 hours. It’s also his first birthday since he left the White House, so you KNOW it’s gonna be lit. And because she’s the absolute best, Michelle shared a throwback picture for the ages. I love this family.

One of the difficult things about police work is consequences. Our judicial system is not set up to punish people in positions of authority unless it is a widespread, consistent and documented abuse of power. And even then, it’s not easy. It’s legitimately hard, due to the way things are structured, to fire an officer and keep him out of law enforcement going forward. In fact, after termination, quite a few appeal their cases and make their way back onto the force. Check out this investigation into the numbers and reasons as to why that occurs.

I love Aziz Ansari. There’s just no other way to put it. Between his TV work, his comedy, his book and basically everything else, my man is just dope. Remember when he showed up in the Otis video and people freaked all the way out? That was just another Tuesday for your boy. And this latest interview he did with GQ reveals that he owns a rare painted portrait of Soulja Boy, which is basically the most amazing thing of all time. I love the fact that it’s all really come together for him.

The long fight between Charles Oakley and the New York Knicks is over. A while back, the franchise legend decided he wanted to put hands on the team’s owner, or at least try to, and he ended up getting thrown out of Madison Square Garden by six dudes. Then, owner James Dolan banned him from the arena. So, they ended up in court. Now, Oakley has accepted a deal to not go to the facility for a year, but left open the possibility of civil charges. Fighting a retired man with nothing to lose in court for his dignity is not a winning battle, but good luck, Dolan.

Free Food

Coffee Break: I just want to give a shout-out to my man Joel Anderson, who joins us at ESPN to cover college football and basketball. Joel is a personal friend and a great dude. He also played football at Texas Christian University and is a great Twitter follower. I’m so happy he’s part of the team and I say that with no shame whatsoever.

Snack Time: Nardwuar and D.R.A.M. seem like those two dudes who ended up getting stuck with each other as college roommates and it ended in a beautiful relationship that no one expected. This interview is total gold.

Dessert: Only musicians can make amusement parks seem this fun. Lil Yachty is having a great summer.

We’re full on in the thick of summer radio, which means that the topics are thin on sports but fun on life. Christian Yates was away on holiday, so talk of The Bachelorette stayed pretty serious, as that particular program has taken a turn for the super cynical.

As far as guests, we chopped it up with Jerry Zgoda of the Minneapolis Star Tribune and Chris Herring of FiveThirtyEight.com. Obviously, there was a lot of basketball chatter on the heels of the NBA draft too.

The NBA draft gave us some fun moments. There wasn’t a whole lot of suspense, as the picks were pretty much chalk, but the devil is in the details. Markelle Fultz unsurprisingly went to the 76ers and was wearing quite a bit of TV makeup that was rather noticeable. Of course the Ball family was in the building, making a tremendous scene, and LaVar’s vision came to fruition. Sidebar: LaVar might be in the WWE soon. LaMelo, though, was the best-dressed one there.

Of course, the Timberwolves traded for Jimmy Butler, which was the big deal of the day in Brooklyn at the Barclays Center. Who knows what the Bulls were thinking, unloading their best player for a couple of dudes who few like and one of whom has a torn ACL. Then they sold a pick to the Warriors. It should also be noted that Butler was in Paris when he got the news that he was traded.

We did find time for the NFL as well. With Colin Kaepernick’s tweets prompting awful takes from many writers, we had to clear a couple of things up.

The New York Knicks are a mess right now. Their best player, Kristaps Porzingis, bailed on the squad before exit interviews when the season ended, and their owner was playing a rock gig the night of the draft. Thankfully, team president Phil Jackson didn’t trade the Latvian away, to the delight of fans, for once. We broke down what they can do next to make them an important franchise to the NBA again. Let’s also not forget that Charles Oakley’s court case for nearly beating up owner James Dolan is still looming.

Speaking of NYC, Kentucky head coach John Calipari showed up to the NBA draft, which is where he does a large part of his recruiting. He’s blatantly there to show face for the Wildcats, which is fine. Also, the fashion factor is a big part of the draft, so we got into that as well.

Of course, the Derek Carr $125M deal with the Oakland Raiders was big news in the NFL world. Mina and Domonique broke down how that’s not really a super significant figure overall, even though it makes him the highest-paid player in the NFL. Basically, he should be. Until the next guy comes along. Which will probably be this week.

Lastly, for Top 5, I took a look at what some of the most hateable fan bases in America are. If you’re wondering, no, New York, Dallas and Philadelphia are not on the list.

Jerry Zgoda of the Minneapolis Star Tribune joined us to talk about the Timberwolves and how they look as a squad since their big acquisition of Butler. They’ve moved up from a League Pass alert team to someone that’s probably going to get a whole lot more television time. But they haven’t made the playoffs in 13 years, so we got into how this franchise is going to move forward.

In the second segment, we talked about the story of Ryan O’Callaghan, whom some of you may remember from his time with the Kansas City Chiefs and New England Patriots. He recently was profiled at OutSports.com with a harrowing story about how he was talked down from suicide, which he’d planned for a long time after his NFL career ended. Domonique told a great story about a teammate he played with who later came out and that he regrets not being more respectful to during their time at the University of Maryland.

I saved the best for last, however. As you all know, The Bachelorette is a big topic of discussion on this program. Since I happened to be doing this show from home, I had a surprise for the gang. After informing everyone that Christian was out of the country, I stepped away from the Skype fam for a second and returned in costume, ready for the segment. Sure, it’s not a visual medium, but the bit was worth it.

NEW ORLEANS (AP) Officers with the National Basketball Players Association said Friday that the problems between Charles Oakley and Madison Square Garden chairman James Dolan could impact decisions future free agents make about playing for the New York Knicks.